Transcendent
by Edhael
Summary: The scourge of one world transcends the barrier between worlds bringing plague and death to the unsuspecting on the other side but what happens when it brings the solution too?


The night was quiet, as the envoy passed along a seldom used road leading to a village far to close to wall rose to have more than a thousand people. Everything seemed perfectly normal to the bespectacled legionnaire; the road was in the midst of a relatively open field, irregularly interspersed with trees. The night was dark as the clouds seemed to continuously dance across the moon.

"I doubt he would be able to give us a definite answer right now, even if we ask."

"But still, do you think you could do it?" Hanji asked, fully understanding the gravity of her words.

With that simple question, Eren realized just how much faith they were all putting in him. As he turned to look at each of them, Mikasa, with her subtle ferocity, Armin, with his quiet intellect, Levi with his unmatched experience, despite his youthful appearance, and Hanji, the wild card mad scientist. In their eyes he could see the fierce determination, their faith in him, and most of all their overwhelming will to live, to help humanity to survive.

'_They all put so much faith in me, I have to do my best for them.'_

"Y-Yeah."

The sound of Eren's voice was the only thing the six of them heard, there were no birds, no crickets, even the wind had silenced the rustle of the nearby trees as if to hear him better. The only noise being the occasional creak and rumble of the carriage they travelled in.

"It's not about if he could do it or not."

The silence was broken as the Lance corporal startled to everyone around him from their own thoughts.

"Do it … You must do it, you have no choice." Levi stated "You're aware of the situation were all in. At this point the legion can't do anything more than their damnedest. So make sure you succeed."

Firmly planted back in reality Eren gave everyone one more glance before nodding firmly.

"Yes Sir." Eren very nearly saluted, "I will plug the breach without fail" His voice crisp and his posture confident. _'Without fail…'_ he thought to himself as he relaxed back into his seat. The entire group let out a collective sigh, all but the priest of the wall cult, who remained silent.

Far away in another world a man stood hooded and cloak carrying in his hand a staff of great power, along with four similar staffs on his back, the only difference between the staves was their hears, each speaking of a different type of power.

The man watched the sky as the wind pushed the cloak from his shoulders revealing the man's form, swathed mostly in blue his pants falling only to his knees as his shirt covered his upper arms and torso with gray trim, the rest of him was covered in bandages, all but his face, obscured by a time worn clothe of greenish blue. The open toed sandals on his feet telling a similar tale of time spent well worn.

Staring at the sky as the sun shone at his back, a sudden pulse of magic energy alerted him to his quarry. Finally with a solid direction to follow, the man turned and walked off towards he rapidly forming vortex in the sky hoping to bring about the conclusion of this malevolent magic before it caused any harm to those he called friend.

Halfway to the vortex, there was a sudden shift in the magic, the sky began to darken, rumble and churn with the beginnings of an unknown catastrophe. As the wind picked up the man came to a stop unsure of what was happening, the trees around him creaking and groaning in the unnaturally hot wind, a sudden gust of magic energy forced the man's hood back enough to see a red tattoo under his right eye.

Realizing the magic had changed but not how the man tore off across the shallow valley in an attempt to stop whatever was happening.

*BANG*

There was a sudden flash, a loud boom, and then the ground began to collapse like an earthquake, fissures of indeterminable depth forming in mere instances, knocked off his feet the man struggled to regain his bearings. As the man stood he surveyed his surroundings, as the ground still shook. Suddenly a flash of brilliant golden lightning shot straight to the ground from the centre of the vortex. Realising what this meant the man leapt across these rapidly forming chasms and dove under falling trees to get to the site of the anima. Cresting a hill he stopped, the hill he stood on overlooked the epicentre of the blast.

As the man stared across the flattened and destroy valley, a thought occurred, and as he considered it, the more logical it seemed. The very thought caused him to shudder with dread at the implications.

All the lives lost, all the families torn apart. But first the man needed proof, so slowly he began to pick his way down the steep slope, through the debris, and around trees so old that nothing short of a giant should have been able to uproot them.

Reaching the bottom of the hill took longer than expected, the man had to double back to find a safe way down after nearly falling to his death when a boulder shifted under his feet. As he walked across the levelled ground, he saw them three people no older than 18. As the man reached the three figures lying on the ground, and see their features, he realized that they weren't from Edolas.

'_Just how far did the anima reach, no just how far _can_ it reach?'_

Suddenly a hand wrapped around his ankle and he had to visibly supress the urge to jump back or lash out, Mikasa couldn't tell.

"W-Who are … you?" She asked as she struggled to hold the man before she lost the strength to hold him any longer.

Not understanding her words, but feeling the implied meaning, he responded "My name is Mystogan, I am an ally, you are safe."

When she didn't say anymore Mystogan realized that she had passed into unconsciousness.

'_I will take them to the master, maybe he will know how to help.' _Mystogan thought to himself_._

Silence reigned as the envoy continued on their way to wall rose in order for Eren to seal the gap. _'Can I do it?' _Eren thought to himself as he contemplated the enormity of the task he had set for himself. _'I don't even know if I can harden my skin as Annie did. I don't even know how she did it.'_ Staring at the trees passing by as though they might hold the answers to the mystery of his powers Eren continued to glare at them half-heartedly knowing that in the end they were just trees. Glancing around at his comrades, seeing their faces, and remembering the faith they have in him. 'I_t doesn't matter I said I would do it so I will no matter what it takes I will kill all the titans and earn their faith!'_

Unbeknownst to Eren, Armin was having similar thoughts. _'if Eren is able to pull this off we may well be able to save humanity, but that's if he can figure out how to use this ability.'_ Armin looked over to his long-time friend trying to gauge his mood, but from the way he was staring at the trees there was nothing to glean from his expression.

Suddenly Eren sat completely upright, ramrod straight, eyes filled with murderous resolve as though here were staring at a titan. "Eren what is it?" Armin asked, his voice betraying his worry.

"Eren?" Mikasa questioned warily

"Did you feel that?" Eren gritted out through clenched teeth, looking around trying to pierce the night darkened woods with just his own eyes.

Picking up on the raised hackles that Eren was displaying, the lance corporal and Mikasa both started looking around as well.

"Feel what?" Hanji asked wondering what had got the resident titan so riled up.

"Yeah Eren what's wrong?" Armin asked glancing from side to side nervously. _'I don't like the way he's acting Eren doesn't usually do this kind of thing unless…' _"Just listen." Eren all but whispered to them. So they listened, all they could hear was the sound of their breathing and the horses footfalls every now and again. "It felt like when Annie called all the titans to her." Eren explained after several long moments of tense silence.

"Annie's not here and besides there was no titan call." Mikasa observed trying to soothe everyone's frayed nerves.

*thump*

"LANCE CORPORAL!" the sound of running feet as one of the forward scouts approached. "LANCE CORPORAL!" he called again.

"What is it?" Levi called back recognizing the recruit as one Harald Wood, knowing that it could only bad news

"There's a storm coming this way sir." The Woods responded hastily when he got to their carriage, wearing the standing scouting legion uniform, Woods looked exhausted, disheveled and terrified. "Why are you telling us about a storm, just divert around it and be done." The Corporal snapped back, showing just how frayed his outer calm really was.

"I would, but.."

"But what, spit it out!" Levi all but shouted

"It's attracting titans, sir." Woods replied

Everything seemed to stop for the group, their minds going blank. "Why would a storm be attracting titans? How far ahead is it?" Armin queried aloud. Nobody could think of an answer or even a theory. The storm is still a league and a half ahead of the formation but the titans are less than half that. Then panic broke loose among the soldiers. Screams could be heard from the front of the formation of titan sightings. The soldiers closer to the carriage started to question how the titans got so far inside the wall, and how they could move at night.

Mikasa looked around wondering how such bedlam could have set in so fast, as she got ready to call order back to quell the chaos that was brewing, her eyes landed on Eren who was staring towards the front of the formation, but when she followed his gaze she realized that he was staring at the sky ahead of the formation. Turning her gaze back to Eren she was almost surprised to see an unnatural calm had come over the boy she had known since her parent's death.

"To fight is to live." Eren muttered to himself under his breath, unknown to him though Mikasa heard every word. When he looked up he saw the faces of his two oldest friends Armin giving him a strange look, but Mikasa seemed to understand what he was thinking. He smiled at them, then stood and started making his way towards the vanguard, parting the panicking soldiers as though he were parting an ocean with no visible effort. As Armin and Mikasa were about to call after him, he called over his shoulder "Come on guys." Pulling out his 3D maneuver gear control handles he disappeared towards the vanguard.

Mikasa swapped a glance with Armin before chasing after him without a second thought. '_Something has happened and he has an idea about it.' _ Mikasa and Armin thought in unison. Hanji watched them leave as she tried to calm the horses that had been startled by the panicked men.

When they reached the Vanguard, Eren was easy enough to spot, talking to the leader of the vanguard. A stout man in his early thirties by the name of Nathan Barnwell, well built as a soldier should be, his hair already graying, and his face just past its prime, etched in to a permanent scowl that did his looks no favours. When they came within ear shot they heard Eren asking the details of the advancing titans.

"There are about ten titans directly in our path, but with the storm the way it is I would be tempted to stay put, they are more interested in the storm." Barnwell stated bluntly. Having seen to many new faces come and go, the boy in front of him didn't seem unblooded.

"Then wouldn't that mean that there might be people there, and if no then what is attracting the titans?" Eren asked calmly belying the severity of the situation.

"We should check it out at least." Mikasa stated as she and Armin neared the conversation. Armin wondering what was about to happen and not liking the feeling growing in the pit of his stomach.

"I agree, Mikasa, Armin, let's go check this out. Lieutenant Barnwell, halt the formation and tell Lance corporal Levi where we've gone if he asks." Turning to face his closest friends "Are you guys ready?" Eren asks. Armin is about to reject the idea when a nearby torch illuminates his best friends face, displaying his unbreakable resolve for all to see.

Without missing a beat both Mikasa and Armin reply "Ready as one." Before the lieutenant could do more than blink the three were gone.

The three travelled in silence, the only noise being their 3D maneuver gear hissing and clinging from the air and wires respectively. "So what's the plan?" Armin asked, breaking the silence. "There are no people where the titans are heading." Eren stated bluntly, deciding not to sugar coat it. This drew an audible intake from Armin and a resigned grunt from Mikasa. "But something is drawing the titans and if we can figure out what it is and harness it then we will have another weapon against them."

Armin could see the logic behind that statement, but something else was nagging at him. "OK but why did we go on our own and not take Hanji or Levi with us?" Armin asked, voicing his thoughts. "Because the more titans we can take out the fewer people get eaten, and the more people we have the slower we move." Mikasa surmised. "Precisely." Eren yelled back from in front.

*thump-thump-thuMP-THUMP*

"Alright, here we go." Eren called out as the first titans appeared in their limited vision.

"WHAAAAT?!" Lance corporal Levi screamed in an impressive display of lung power for such a short man.

"They went out on their own with just their gear in the DARK to take on a group of ten titans?" Hanji questioned as well.

The form of lieutenant Nathan Barnwell shrunk back at the collective rage between the two. But before he could speak a word to defend himself they too had disappeared before he could even draw breath.

'_I am soooo getting a demotion for this'_ he thought to himself.

As Levi and Hanji raced through the night in an attempt to catch Eren and the others, Levi cursing to himself the whole way, Hanji wondered _' just what are they thinking… scratch that I know what they're thinking but how could they be so bone headed to think that they could do it alone.'_

Just barely avoiding a low hanging branch the duo came across a smoking titan corpse. Landing in a tree near the smoking form they saw that it had been killed recently and that the nape of its neck had been almost perfectly cut.

"That's Mikasa's handy work right there." Levi stated "Has to be given the conditions no one else could have made that cut."

"That wasn't Mikasa who made that cut, it was Eren." Hanji replied cooly. "Eren? How can you tell." Levi retorted

"I can't I just know." Hanji stated before turning and launching from the tree to chase Eren and the others, leaving a very confused Levi to follow after her.

Mikasa and Armin watched in awe as Eren dispatched titan after titan, only pausing to discard dulled or broken blades. The titans paid the humans no mind so enraptured by what was happening at the centre of the storm that made it even more dangerous to be using 3D maneuver gear to this degree, but Eren was managing his gear as though he had been doing it his whole life as were Armin and Mikasa.

As they rounded a particularly large tree to the groups left a 17 meter class titan stepped into Eren's path, seeing his chance Eren twisted, shot his secondary lead into a tree back the way they came, then using the momentum wrapped his primary wire around the titans head, while reversing the grip he had on his left blade he swung both blades, shearing the nape of the titans neck clean out.

As Armin continued to circle a deviant came bounding through the trees straight for him, seeing it Armin made to get behind it, but as he rounded a tree to the right of the deviant another 15 meter titan stood up and grabbed Armin by the leg, breaking it with the momentum. Armin reeled in shock letting out a pained scream that bounced off the trees. Mikasa having been behind the deviant already sliced the nape of its neck out when it jumped for Armin and missed. "Armin!" Eren yelled as he heard Armin scream tearing through the air between the trees as fast as his gear would allow him. Mikasa and Eren both got to the titan holding Armin at the same time. Eren reacted first, slicing the muscle along the jaw so the titan couldn't bite him will Mikasa half a second later destroyed the nape of its neck.

Of the ten reported titans there was actually fifteen, seven of which Eren dispatched single handed, four by Mikasa and three by Armin with the last one being killed by one of the 15 meter classes that fell on it. Having stopped in a tree to confirm that all the titans were dealt with and to splint Armin's broken leg, the trio decided on what to do next. With all the titans out of the way the three decided to take to the ground to ease Armin's pain.

"So what do we do now?" Armin questioned.

"We head for the eye of the storm and see what was causing all the titan in the area to gather then see if we can take it." Eren answered while hauling Armin onto his back. As they made their way through the trees a pulse of what felt like pure energy blasted through the three, but only Eren stopped. "Whats wrong?" Mikasa asked readying her blades, "Is there another titan?"

"No." Eren responded "But didn't you feel that?"

"Feel what?" Armin asked

"It felt like it came from the direction that the titans were heading. Just beyond those trees." Eren pointed to the edge of a clearing in the forest. The wind now was gale force and none of them thought that using the 3D maneuver gear was a good idea. So as they walked towards the clearing, they notice a light coming from the centre of the clearing.

Setting Armin down nearby Eren and Mikasa decide to investigate the clearing to see if they can find what was attracting the titans. As Eren crossed the clearing, and Mikasa circled around the outside, Armin noticed a book on the ground. Attempting to get up proved too painful to manage so Armin decided to call one of his friends "Hey Eren, I found something!" Armin called. "What is it?" Eren asked coming over to his friend. Armin pointed out the book, so Eren went to retrieve it, bringing it back, Armin started to examine it.

Curious, Mikasa came over to join them, inadvertently stepping into the pool of light that shone down into the centre of the clearing. As her right foot entered the light she knew that something was going to happen, and she wasn't disappointed.

There was a flash of light, a noise like a canon and then a strike of lightning, then blackness. The only thing Mikasa knew for certain was that where ever here was Armin and Eren were with her.

As Levi and Hanji encountered more and more titan corpses, their sense of trepidation only increased. To their great relief though there were no visible signs of blood. Stopping and having to advance on foot when the storm got too strong there pace was far reduced.

Only when they reached what appeared to be the end of the breadcrumb trail of titan corpses did they stop to survey their surroundings and what they knew.

"We still haven't seen hide nor hair of them. They could have been eaten." Levi stated with a hint of concern creeping into his voice.

"If they had been eaten we would have seen blood. They're alive, I know it."

*BOOM*

*FLASH*

As the sound faded, and their vision returned, Levi and Hanji exchanged grim looks before dashing off in the direction of the noise. Running through the trees in such frenzy they didn't even notice that the wind had stopped nor that the sky had cleared. They could only imagine finding what they feared the most. But when they arrived at the clearing they didn't even find that. What they found was a massacred clearing that looked like a canon the size of a small house had back fired, the ground was bear and cracked with fires ravaging what little greenery there was left. But there was no sign of the three missing recruits.

"Do you think they were here?" Hanji asked.

"Yes." Levi replyed

"Then where are they now?" Hanji questioned frantically, storming over to Levi and grabbing him by the collar.

"I don't know." Was his only response.

The next time she opened her eyes Mikasa didn't know where she was, what had happened or how much time had past.

There before her stood a man, hooded and cloaked, who seemed to be staring through them. Mikasa reached out to grab him and get his attention, but she found it exceedingly hard to move. It took her several tries before she succeeded. She did not notice the man jolt, nor the look of surprise that crossed his face.

"W-Who are… you?" Mikasa asked.

"My name is Mystogan, I am an ally, you are safe."

Though the man's answer was lost to her as she lost consciousness once more.


End file.
